Iomega debuts portable HDDs with USB 3.0

Iomega introduced a new USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives series with hardware encryption and a rugged design. These units will start shipping in 500GB and 1TB capacities by early October at "USB 2.0" prices, but the company didn't mention specific prices.

Iomega, an EMC company (NYSE: EMC) and a leading innovator in digital protection solutions for consumers and small and medium businesses, is excited to announce that it is moving to the new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface for all Iomega USB 2.0 portable hard drives, beginning with the award-winning line of Iomega® eGo™ Portable Hard Drives. The new all-USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives will feature hardware encryption and super toughness, too, thanks to a drop spec twice the industry average – all at USB 2.0 product prices. This market-leading move continues Iomega’s tradition of technology leadership.

“As a market leader in external hard drive solutions, Iomega is proud to be the first to move towards an all USB 3.0 portable hard drive lineup – and at no extra price premium to our customers,” said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega Corporation and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. “With a super fast USB 3.0 interface delivering speeds of up to 10 times that of USB 2.0, super tough with a 7-foot drop spec that’s twice the industry average and super secure with AES 256 hardware encryption, Iomega’s eGo Portable Hard Drives will be the premium must-have portable storage product. Factor in our bundled software Protection Suite with popular titles such as Iomega’s QuikProtect, v.Clone and Trend Micro’s Internet Security, and that makes Iomega’s USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives an exceptional premium solution at the same price as most entry level basic USB 2.0 products.”

USB 3.0 Transition Timeline for Iomega Portable Hard Drives
Iomega plans to move all eGo Portable Hard Drives in 500GB* and 1TB** capacities to the new USB 3.0 interface by early October. Totally compatible will all USB 2.0 computers, the new USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives will include Iomega’s industry-leading Drop Guard™ Xtreme, which provides added protection from drops of nearly seven feet or twice the industry average***.

In the first quarter of 2011, Iomega plans to move the Iomega® Prestige Compact Portable Hard Drive line to USB 3.0 on all models. Shortly thereafter, Iomega will move the rest of its portable external hard drive models to the USB 3.0 interface.

Perfect for slipping into a laptop bag or pocket, all of Iomega’s 2.5-inch portable hard drives are host powered, requiring no external power supply beyond the power provided through the USB bus on a personal computer, laptop or netbook. Iomega’s new USB 3.0 portable hard drives are completely backward compatible with personal computers and other devices that only have USB 2.0 ports. Iomega offers USB 3.0 adapter cards (sold separately) to insert into USB 2.0 laptop and desktop computers so users can experience native USB 3.0 transfer speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second.

More Than Just a Portable Hard Drive – A Total Solution
Iomega prides itself on providing total solutions, which is why all of the new Iomega USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives come complete out of the box with 256-bit hardware encryption built-in (PC only), as well as the cables required to enjoy your drive right away, whether your desktop or laptop has USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 ports. The Prestige family of portable hard drives will also feature 256-bit hardware encryption built-in (PC only) with the transition to USB 3.0 models in the first quarter of 2011.

Best Software Package Bundled With Portable Hard Drives Today
Included free of charge with all of Iomega’s eGo and Prestige Portable Hard Drives is the Iomega Protection Suite, a one-stop portfolio of backup and anti-virus software giving users added protection for their photos, videos, music and other files.

The Iomega Protection Suite includes:

* v.Clone™ software, an Iomega exclusive, captures a complete virtual image of your PC — including the operating system, all applications, your settings, and all your files to your Iomega hard drive. Access the cloned copy and use it seamlessly on another computer, just as if you're working from your own PC. When you reconnect, automatically sync your data to your primary PC, so that files are always up to date****.
* A complementary 12 month subscription to Trend Micro™ Internet Security for the PC, or Trend Micro™ Smart Surfing software for Mac.
* Iomega QuikProtect: backup software for simple scheduled file-level backup of data to hard drives and network-attached storage devices (for Windows and Mac desktops and notebooks).
* Roxio® Retrospect® Express software: backup all of your data plus applications and settings (for Windows and Mac desktops and notebooks).
* MozyHome™ Online Backup service: Convenient online backup service with 2GB of online capacity for free (unlimited online storage for $4.95/month). MozyHome Online service allows Windows and Mac users to restore their most important data from any computer with internet access, at any location in the world.

All of the software elements in the Iomega Protection Suite are accessible via easy download to owners of Iomega eGo and Prestige Drives.